Molded pulp packing tray



y 1960 P. M. WILLIAMS 2,936,922

MOLDED PULP PACKING TRAY Filed March 7, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 36 zgo 3.45 2432 46 58 56 fig J2? I; 2 16 12 16 J6 J6 INVENTOR PHILIP M. WILLIAMSATTORNEY May 17, 1960 P. M. WILLIAMS 2,9 ,922

MOLDED PULP PACKING TRAY 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 7, 1958 T mivENToRPHILIP M. WILLIAMS May 17, 1960 Filed March 7, 1958 P. M. WILLIAMSMOLDED PULP PACKING TRAY 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 INVENTOR PHILIP M. WILLIAMSATTORNEY$ United States PatentO This invention relates to molded pulppacking trays, and it particularly relates to trays which are.adapted'to be disposed-between layers of fruit in a packin'gcase insuch manner as to cushion each individual fruit from those adjacentthereto either vertically or horizontally.

Although various types of molded pulp trays forpacking fruits or thelike in layers within a packing case have heretofore been produced,these prior trays had various defects, for example, some trays were soconstructed that they could either be used only at the bottom or only atthe top of a layer; consequently it was necessary to use two differentkinds of trays in one packing case. Other trays were capable of beingused either at the top or bottomof a layer. However, these trays wereusually so constructed that more fruitswere arranged along one edge'thananother; consequently, there was an uneven distribution of weight whichtended to distort and even tear the trays after only a short period ofuse. In addition, few, if any,.,of these prior trays made accommodationfor the particular shapes of certain fruits such as apples or pears butwere made with. pockets of generally hemispherical shape; consequently,these pockets had to be large enough to accommodate such oblong fruit,resulting in a great waste of fruit-holding capacity.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a packing tray forfruit or similar articles which is adapted for use either at the top orbottom of a layer of fruit within a packing case.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a packing tray forfruit or similar articles which, although capable of use at either thetop .or bottomof a layer, is

adapted to retain an equal number of articles at each side 1 of the traywhereby the weight distribution of the articles is kept substantiallyeven. r u

Another object of the present-invention is to provide a packing tray ofthe above type which is adapted to retain articles of both spherical andoblong shape with the greatest utilization ofavailable space. I Anotherobject of the present invention is to provide a tray of the above typewhich can be easily nested for shipping or storage.

' Other objects and many ofthe attendant advantages of this inventionwill be readily appreciated as the same become better understood byreference to the following detailed description when considered inconnection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

. Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a tray embodying the I present invention;7 I i .Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan'view of. two trays wherein one overlies the otherand is rotated 180 relative thereto; the top traybeing shown in dottedoutline; I

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. '3

fruits packed therein; I V V Fig. Sis a top plan viewofasecondembodiment of the present invention;

and illustrating the trays arranged in a-packing case with 2,935,922Patented May 17, 1960 ice Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6of Fig. 5; and a Fig. 7 is a sectional view of two trays such as shownin Fig. 5, wherein one overlies the other and is rotated relativethereto, the view'being taken on a line which would correspond to line77 of Fig. 5.

Referring now in greater detail to the various figures of the drawingswherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts, there isshown a molded pulp tray, generally designated 10, comprising four rowsof pockets 12, there being four pockets in each row whereby the pocketsare simultaneously arranged in four rows and four columns intersectingthe rows.

The pockets 12 are generally hemispherical in crosssectional shape (asbest shown in Fig. 2) and are each separated from the pockets adjacentthereto by relatively low ,ribs 14. Each pocket 12 is further providedwith a centrally-located oblong recess 16 which is elongated in adiagonal direction relative to the sheet.

As clearlyshown in Fig. 1, each pocket 12 is somewhat oblong in that onediagonal axis from one corner to the opposite corner is longer than thetransverse axis between the other two corners. This eifect isobtained bymaking each rib 14 extend in a diagonal direction in the horizontal,plane.

At each of the four horizontal corners of each pocket 12 there isprovided a post 18 which extends well above the horizontal plane of theribs 14. These posts 18 are octagonal in shape with two opposite sidewalls 20 and 22 being wider than the other side walls so that the postis elongated in a diagonal direction generally parallel to that of theoblong recesses.

' Atthe peripheral portions of the tray, two adjacent I peripheralportions are provided with semi-circular 'or half-pockets 24, eachhalf-pocket 24 comprising a bottom wall 26, a horizontally semi-circularand vertically upward and outwardly inclined inner wall 28, a straight,vertically upward .and outwardly inclined outer wall 30, and upward andoutwardlyinclined, triangular corner walls 32 connecting the walls 28and'30. These halfpockets extend up to the level of .the ribs 14 and aredefined by a peripheral rim 34 at this level, while at, their lowerends, the bottom walls 26 are ina common horizontal plane withthe-bottom of recesses 16.

Between adjacent half-pockets, the rim 34 is provided with inwardextensions 36 from the inner ends of which extend upwardly and inwardlyinclined walls 38 which define one side wall of the adjacent octagonalpost 18. The

a horizontally-curved and vertically upward and :out-r wardly extendingouter wall 48, an upwardly and outwardly inclined inner wall 50 andtriangular shaped corner walls 52 similar to walls 32. An upwardlyinclined wall 54 extends up from the wall 50 to form one of the walls ofthe corner post. a r

The other two peripheral portions of the trayrare not provided withhalf-pockets; instead, the pockets 12 adjacent these other peripheralportions are provided with arcuately-curved side walls 56, these wallsbeing curved in both the horizontal and the vertical directions. Thesearcuately-curved end walls 56 extend up to the level of the tops of theposts 18. The periphery at each of these portions of the trayis definedby a peripheral rim- 58 at the level of the posts 18. A pair offinger-grip notches ger-grip notches.

60 are provided on each portion of the rim '58; these notches60 beingoffset from the notches. 42 in the opposite side of the tray.

When the trays 10 are in use, one tray ltl is provided on the bottomof.a'packing'case 62 and the fruits or other objects to be packed areplaced in the pockets 12 then a second tray 10 is rotatably reversed 180and placed over the filled lower tray 10, as shown in Pig. 4. In thisposit-ion, the fruits are individually cushioned in spaced relation tothe other fruits, this cushioning being effected not only laterally butalso vertically at the top and bottom as indicated at 64 and 66. Therecesses 16 on the bottom tray further cushion the entire layer from thebottom of the case while the recesses 16 on the upper tray coact withthe posts 18 totake the pressure off the fruits packed between the twotrays. The posts 18 on the upper tray meanwhile abut against'the top ofthe packing case to provide a cushioning effect at those areas while therims 34 and 58 laterally cushion the fruits from the side walls of thepacking case.

Although only one layer of fruits defined by two trays 10 areillustratedin Fig. 4, in practice, a number of layers are usually provided oneabove the other.

In the above manner, a standard size packing case and standard sizepacking trays may be used even though the pockets are elongated toaccommodate the different shapes of the fruits being packed; this is dueto the somewhat stepped arrangement of the pockets in each row.

When the trays 10 are not in use, they may be easily and securely nestedfor storage or shipment so as to occupy a minimum of storage space. Thisis accomplished by placing'the trays one upon the other with thehalf-pockets in the same plane. The half-pockets of each upper traythereby are snugly received in those of the nextk lower tray to maintainthe trays securely in the stac A In Figs. 5, Sand 7 there is shown amodified form nt the tray, such modified tray being generally designated100. In the main portion of the tray are provided pockets 102 arrangedin intersectingrows and columns similarly to tray 10 except thatalthough there are four pockets in each row, there are five instead offour rows, so that each intersecting column consists of five pockets,these pockets being designated 102.

The pockets 102 are generally similar to pockets 12 of tray 10 in thatthey are also generally hemispherical and are separated from theadjacent pockets by ribs 104. The ribs 104 resemble ribs 14 except that,instead of being diagonal, they are parallel with the correspondingedges of the tray. Similarly to ribs 14, the ribs 104 connect withoctagonal hollow posts 106. In contradistinction to posts 18 of tray 10,the posts 106 are defined in the horizontal plane by alternating shortsides 108 and longer sides 110, the sides 108 being all of a similarsize and shape and the sides 11!) being also of a similar size andshape. Consequently, the posts 106 are symmetrical rather thandiagonally elongated in the horizontal plane as in the case of posts 18.

The end pockets 102 in each column forming the opposite end rows ofpockets are slightly different from the other pockets 102 in that theyare provided with walls 112 adjacent the rim of the tray which arearcuately curved in similar manner to walls 56 of tray 19.

On each of the two peripheral edges of the tray-adjacent the two endcolumns of pockets 102 is provided a column of half-pockets 114 similarin almost every way to half-pockets 24 of tray 10, the only significantdifference being a somewhat larger spacing therebetween due to thesomewhat larger walls 116 as compared to the walls 38 of tray 10. Inaddition there are no corner pockets such as provided at 44 in tray 10,the corners 118 of tray 100 being flat portions of the rim 120 and beingdefined by cut-oil edges 122. There is also a slight difference in theend columns of ribs 124, these being somewhat thicker than theircounterparts in tray 1i} and also having outer walls 126 which aresomewhat inclined from the center outwardly to accommodate the arcuateinner walls 128 of the adjacent half-pockets 114.

These trays are used in similar fashion to trays 10 except that they arerotated 90 rather than relative to each other.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention arepossible in the light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to beunderstood that within the scope of the appended claims the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

1. A packing tray comprising a generally rectangular sheet defined by astepped peripheral rim comprising two upper levels and two lower levels,a plurality of rows of pockets in said sheet, said pockets also beingarranged in columns transverse to said rows, each of said pockets beinggenerally rectangular in the horizontal plane of the sheet and generallyhemispherical in the'vertical plane, said pockets being separated fromall the pockets adjacent thereto by ribs, and said ribs being spacedfrom each other by hollow posts, said posts each being positioned in acorner of a pocket, said ribs being positioned in a common verticalplane substantially lower than the top level of said posts, and twoseries of half-pockets on the periphery of said sheet, said half-pocketshaving outer walls the upper ends of which are common with the lowerlevels of said peripheralrim.

'2. The packing tray of claim 1 wherein one series of said half-pocketsis arranged in a row substantially parallel with said rows of pocketsand the other series of pockets is arranged in a column substantiallyparallel with said columns of pockets.

3. The packing tray of claim 1 wherein both series of half-pockets arearranged substantially parallel with said columnsof pockets, one seriesof half-pockets being on one side of the sheet and the other seriesbeing on the opposite side of the sheet.

4. The packing tray of claim 1 wherein said rows and columns of pockets,said posts and said ribs are aligned diagonally along the horizontalplane of the sheet.

5. The packing tray of claim 1 wherein said rows and columns of pockets,said posts and said ribs are aligned in parallelism with thecorresponding edges of the sheet.

6. A packing tray comprising a generally rectangular sheet defined by astepped peripheral rim comprising two upper levels and two lower levels,a plurality of rows or full pockets in said sheet, the full .pockets insaid rows also forming transverse columns, each of said full pocketsbeing substantially rectangular in the horizontal plane of the sheet andhemispherical in the vertical plane, a series of half-pockets along twoedges of said sheet, said half-pockets having outer walls, the upperends of which are common with the lower levels of said peripheral rimand a hollow post positioned in each of the corners between adjacentfull pockets. V

7.. The packing tray of 'claim 6 wherein said full pockets are indiagonally stepped arrangement in the horizontal plane of the sheet, thestepped arrangement being such that the corresponding corners of eachpocket are in substantially the same transverse plane.

.8. .The packing tray of claim 6 wherein each hollow post is diagonallyelongated in the horizontal plane of the sheet.

9. The packing tray'of claim 6 wherein each pocket is separated from thepocket adjacent thereto by a rib,

said ribs being in a vertical plane substantially lower.

' pockets are separated vfrom each other by ribs extending tosubstantially the same vertical plane of said half-pockets. V i

'12. A packing tray comprising a generally rectangular plane as theupper jacent the other two peripheral edges of the tray, saidhalf-pclets being defin d by an upper plane substantially lower than theupper plane of said posts, and the full pockets adjacent the othertwoperipheral edges being defined at said other two edges by side wallsextending up to substantially the same plane as the upper plane of saidposts.

13. The packing tray of claim 12 wherein said full pockets are generallyrectangular in the horizontal plane of the sheet and are defined by apair of intersecting diagonal axes in said horizontal plane, one of saidaxes being longer than the other. v

14. The packing tray of claim 12' wherein said full pockets areseparated from each other by ribs extending to substantially the samevertical plane as the upper plane of said half-pockets I 15. The packingtray of claim 12 whereinsaid full pockets are defined by side wallswhich are diagonally inclined in the horizontal plane of the sheet, eachside wall of each full pocket being diagonally inclined in a commontransverse plane with the corresponding side Walls of the other fullpockets.

16. A packing tray comprising a generally rectangular sheet, a column ofhalf-pockets at two opposite peripheral edges of said sheet, a pluralityof columns of full pockets generally parallel with said columns ofhalf-pockets, said full pockets being arranged to simultaneously formtransverse rows of full pockets, the end rows of full pockets atopposite edges of the sheet having arcuate outer walls, ahollow postateach connecting corner between full pockets, said arcuate outerwalls'of said end rowsof full the other and is rotated relative theretoon a vertical axis, eachrtray comprising a generally rectangular sheet,defined by a stepped peripheral rim comprising two upper levels and twolower levels, a plurality of rows of full pockets in said sheet, thefull pockets in said rows also forming transverse columns, each of saidfull pockets being substantially rectangular in the horizontal plane ofthe sheet and hemispherical in the vertical plane, a series ofhalf-pockets along two edges of said sheet, said halt pockets havingouter walls, the upper ends of which are common with the lower. levelsof said peripheral rim,

a hollow post positioned in each of the corners between adjacent fullpockets, each post of the lower tray supporting a full pocket of theupper tray, and the halfpockets of the lower traybeing vertically spacedfrom the half-pockets of the upper tray.

18. A package comprising a packing case, a plurality of layers of packedarticles within said packing case, each of said layers being definedby apair of packing trays wherein one tray overlies and is rotated relativeto the other, each tray comprising a generally rectangular sheet definedby stepped peripheral rim comprising two upper levels and two lowerlevels, a plura ity of rows of full pockets in said sheet, the fullpockets in said rows also forming transverse columns, each of said fullpockets being substantially rectangular in the horizontal plane of thesheet and hemispherical in the vertical plane, a series of half-pocketsalong two edges of said sheet, a hollow post positioned in each of thecorners between adjacent full pockets, the top levels of said postsbeing in substantially the same plane as the upper levels of saidstepped peripheral rim, each post of the lower tray supporting a pocketof the upper tray and the half-pockets ofthe lower tray being verticallyspaced from the half-pockets of, the

upper tray, and an article being positioned within each pocket of thelower tray.

References fitted in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,662,659. Putnam Dec. 15, 1953 2,813,652 Parsons Nov. 19, 1957' FOREIGNPATENTS 124,061 Australia Apr. 18, 1947

